Dear Clients and Friends,
It is likely that you have heard of “gray divorce” in recent years, referring to when couples over 50 get divorced, often after decades of marriage. Along with gray divorce comes “gray marriage,” when elderly persons get married in their 50s, 60s, 70s and beyond.
In many of these matters, both spouses come into these marriages with financial security. They may both be retired with good pensions. The kids may be grown and on their own. The house may be paid off.
The assumption may be that if the marriage breaks up, they’re each no worse for the wear and will leave the marriage with what they brought into it. That, however, does not mean that they should not still consider a prenuptial agreement for these late-in-life marriages.
For one thing, a pre-nup may be a way of balancing your loyalty to your children from a previous marriage with concerns about ensuring your new spouse is taken care of should anything happen to you.
Without a pre-nup, an estate plan can be changed at any time for any reason, giving both your kids and your new spouse a level of insecurity. With a pre-nup, however, you can securely split up your estate between your new spouse and your kids in the most appropriate way possible.
A pre-nup is also a useful way to deal with retirement assets. This is especially relevant because later in life, you’re more likely to be using these assets. You can decide in a prenuptial agreement which assets you’ll use as a couple to support yourself and work out how to divide up retirement accounts between a surviving spouse and a deceased spouse’s children from a prior marriage.
There are of course other potential benefits to considering a pre-nup for a gray marriage and we continue to suggest that you call us for a free phone evaluation of your personal interests and questions.
Best,
Ron